Water gas is a kind of fuel gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is produced by "alternately hot blowing a fuel layer [coke] with air and gasifying it with steam". The caloric yield of this is about 10% of a modern syngas plant. Further making this technology unattractive, its precursor coke is expensive, whereas syngas uses cheaper precursor, mainly methane from natural gas.
Synthesis gas is made by passing steam over a red-hot carbon fuel such as coke:
(ΔH = +131 kJ/mol)
The reaction is endothermic, so the fuel must be continually re-heated to maintain the reaction. To do this, an air stream, which alternates with the vapor stream, is introduced to combust some of the carbon:
(ΔH = -393 kJ/mol)
Theoretically, to make 6 L of water gas, 5 L of air is required. Alternatively, to prevent contamination with nitrogen, energy can be provided by using pure oxygen to burn carbon into carbon monoxide.
(ΔH = -221 kJ/mol)
In this case, 1 L of oxygen will create 5.3 L of pure water gas.
The water-gas shift reaction was discovered by Italian physicist Felice Fontana in 1780. Water gas was made in England from 1828 by blowing steam through white-hot coke.
Hydrocarbonate is an archaic term for water gas composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen generated by passing steam through glowing coke. Hydrocarbonate was classified as a factitious air and explored for therapeutic properties by eighteenth-century physicians including: Thomas Beddoes and James Watt. The term hydrocarbonate was coined by Thomas Beddoes in 1794. It should not be confused with the modern name "hydrogen carbonate" for bicarbonate ion.
Between 1794 and 1802, physicians such as Tiberius Cavallo and Davies Gilbert experimented with hydrocarbonate as an analgesic and anesthetic. Humphry Davy infamously inhaled three quarts of hydrocarbonate at the Pneumatic Institution and nearly died upon "sinking into annihilation"; Davy recovered two days later and concluded inhalation of more hydrocarbonate could have "destroyed life immediately without producing any painful sensations".
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The course is an introduction to heterogeneous catalysis for environmental protection and energy production. It focusses on catalytic exhaust gas cleaning as well as catalytic systems relevant for gas
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, called charcoal burning, often by forming a charcoal kiln, the heat is supplied by burning part of the starting material itself, with a limited supply of oxygen. The material can also be heated in a closed retort. Modern "charcoal" briquettes used for outdoor cooking may contain many other additives, e.
Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reacting the feedstock material at high temperatures (typically >700 °C), without combustion, via controlling the amount of oxygen and/or steam present in the reaction. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and is itself a fuel due to the flammability of the H2 and CO of which the gas is largely composed.
Producer gas is fuel gas that is manufactured by blowing through a coke or coal fire with air and steam simultaneously. It mainly consists of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), as well as substantial amounts of nitrogen (N2). The caloric value of the producer gas is low (mainly because of its high nitrogen content), and the technology is obsolete. Improvements over producer gas, also obsolete, include water gas where the solid fuel is treated intermittently with air and steam and, far more efficiently synthesis gas where the solid fuel is replaced with methane.
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